Nelson Lau

Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology

Departments/Programs

Biology

Degrees

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D.
State University of New York, Albany, B.S.

Expertise

Gene expression, RNA interference, Molecular Biology

Profile

Please visit my new faculty profile page.

My laboratory studies the molecular biology of small regulatory RNAs and transposons that regulate the genomes of animals. Our research focuses on germ cells that are essential for fertility, as well as neurons in the brain. We use genomics, biochemical, genetics, and bioinformatics approaches.

Awards and Honors

Searle Scholar Award (2010 - 2013)

NIH NICHD K99/R00 Career Transition Award (2008 - 2012)

Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2005 - 2008)

AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Award (2003)

Scholarship

Chirn,GW, Rahman, R, Sytnikova, YA, Matts, JA, Zeng, M, Gerlach, D, Yu, M, Berger, B, Kile, BT, and Lau, NC.. "Conserved piRNA expression from a distinct set of piRNA cluster loci in Eutherian mammals.." Plos Genetics 11. 11 (2015): e1005652..

Rahman, R., Chirn, GW, Kanodia, A, Sytnikova, Y., Brembs, B, Bergman, CM, Lau, NC.. "Unique transposon landscapes are pervasive across Drosophila melanogaster genomes.." Nucleic Acids Research. 43. 22 (2015): 10655-72.

Clark, J, and Lau, Nelson C.. "Piwi proteins and piRNAs step onto the systems biology stage.." Systems Biology and Genomics of RNA binding proteins and RNA processing.. 1st edition ed. vol. 825 Ed. Gene Yeo. New York: Springer, 2014. 159-97.

Ghirettie, AE, Moore, AR, Brenner, RG, Chen, LF, West, AE, Lau, Nelson C., Van Hooser, SD, and Paradis, S.. "Rem2 is an activity-dependent negative regulator of dendritic complexity in vivo.." Journal of Neuroscience 34. 2 (2014): 392-407..

Matts, J.A., Sytnikova, Y., Chirn, G., Igloi, G.L., and Lau, N.C.. "Small RNA library construction from minute biological samples.." Methods in Molecular Biology. 1st edition ed. vol. 1093 Ed. Mikiko Siomi. New York City: Humana Press, 2014. 180-188.

Ow, MC, Lau, Nelson C., Hall SE. "Small RNA library cloning procedure for deep sequencing of specific endogenous siRNA classes in Caenorhabditis elegans.." Methods Mol Biol. 1173. 1 (2014): 59-70.

Post, C, Clark, J, Sytnikova, Y., Chirn, G.W., and Lau, Nelson C.. "The capacity of target silencing by the Drosophila Piwi protein and piRNAs.." RNA 20. 12 (2014): 1977-86.

Sytnikova, Y., Rahman, R., Chirn, G.W., Post, C., Clark, J., and Lau, Nelson C.. "Genome and transposon dynamics during PIWI regulation in Drosophila ovarian cell cultures.." Genome Research 24. 12 (2014): 1977-90.

Hall, S.E. †, Chirn, G., Lau, N.C†. and Sengupta, P.. "RNAi pathways contribute to develop-mental history-dependent phenotypic plasticity in C. elegans.." RNA 19. 3 (2013): 306-19.

Sytnikova, Y, and Lau, N.C.. "Does the APC/C mark MIWI and piRNAs for a final farewell?." Developmental Cell 24. 2 (2013): 119-20.

Zeng, M. Kuzirian, MS, Harper, L, Paradis, S, and Lau, Nelson C.. "Organic small hairpin RNAs (OshR): a Do-It-Yourself platform for transgene-based gene silencing." Methods 63. 2 (2013): 101-109.

Lau, Nelson C.. "Small RNAs in the animal gonad: Guarding genomes and guiding development.." Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 42. 8 (2010): 1134-47.

Wu Q, Luo Y, Lu R, Lau N, Lai EC, Li WX, Ding SW.. "Virus discovery by deep sequencing and assembly of virus-derived small silencing RNAs.." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107. 4 (2010): 1606-11.

Lau, Nelson C. Ohsumi, T., Borowsky, M., Kingston, R.E., & M.D. Blower. "Systematic and Single Cell Analysis of Xiwi and Xenopus Piwi-interacting RNAs." EMBO Journal 28. 19 (2009): 2945-58.

Lau, Nelson C., Robine, N. Martin, R. Chung, W. J. Niki, Y. Berezikov, E. Lai, E. C.. "Abundant primary piRNAs, endo-siRNAs, and microRNAs in a Drosophila ovary cell line." Genome Res 19. 10 (2009): 1776-85.

Robine, N., Lau, Nelson C., Balla S, Jin Z, Okamura K, Kuramochi-Miyagawa S, Blower MD, Lai EC.. "A broadly conserved pathway generates 3' UTR-directed primary piRNAs." Current Biology 19. 24 (2009): 2066-76.

Lau, Nelson C.. "Analysis of small endogenous RNAs." Curr Protoc Mol Biol Chapter 26. (2008): Unit 26.7.

Miska, E. A. Alvarez-Saavedra, E. Abbott, A. L. Lau, Nelson C. Hellman, A. B. McGonagle, S. M. Bartel, D. P. Ambros, V. R. Horvitz, H. R.. "Most Caenorhabditis elegans microRNAs are individually not essential for development or viability." PLoS Genet 3. 12 (2007): e215.

Seto, A. G. Kingston, R. E. Lau, Nelson C.. "The coming of age for Piwi proteins." Mol Cell 26. 5 (2007): 603-9.

Lau, Nelson C., Seto, A. G. Kim, J. Kuramochi-Miyagawa, S. Nakano, T. Bartel, D. P. Kingston, R. E.. "Characterization of the piRNA complex from rat testes." Science 313. 5785 (2006): 363-7.

Abbott, A. L., Alvarez-Saavedra, E., Miska, E. A., Lau, Nelson C., Bartel, D. P., Horvitz, H. R., & Ambros, V.. "The let-7 MicroRNA family members mir-48, mir-84, and mir-241 function together to regulate developmental timing in Caenorhabditis elegans." Dev Cell 9. 3 (2005): 403-14.

Lau, Nelson C., & Lai, E.C.. "Diverse roles for RNA in gene regulation." Genome Biol 6. 4 (2005): 315.

Li, M., Jones-Rhoades, M. W., Lau, Nelson C., Bartel, D. P., & Rougvie, A. E.. "Regulatory mutations of mir-48, a C. elegans let-7 family MicroRNA, cause developmental timing defects." Dev Cell 9. 3 (2005): 415-22.

Lim, L. P. Lau, Nelson C. Garrett-Engele, P. Grimson, A. Schelter, J. M. Castle, J. Bartel, D. P. Linsley, P. S. Johnson, J. M.. "Microarray analysis shows that some microRNAs downregulate large numbers of target mRNAs." Nature 433. 7027 (2005): 769-73.

Bergman, N. H., Lau, Nelson C., Lehnert, V., Westhof, E., & Bartel, D. P.. "The three-dimensional architecture of the class I ligase ribozyme." RNA 10. 2 (2004): 176-84.

Landthaler, M., Lau, Nelson C., & D.A. Shub. "Group I intron homing in Bacillus phages SPO1 and SP82: a gene conversion event initiated by a nicking homing endonuclease." J Bacteriol 186. 13 (2004): 4307-14.

Lau, Nelson C., Bartel D.P.. "Censors of the genome." Sci Am 289. 2 (2003): 34-41.

Lim, L.P., Lau, Nelson C., Weinstein, E. G., Abdelhakim, A., Yekta, S., Rhoades, M. W., Burge, C. B., & Bartel, D. P.. "The microRNAs of Caenorhabditis elegans." Genes Dev 17. 8 (2003): 991-1008.

Landthaler, M., Begley, U., Lau, Nelson C., & D.A. Shub. "Two self-splicing group I introns in the ribonucleotide reductase large subunit gene of Staphylococcus aureus phage Twort." Nucleic Acids Res 30. 9 (2002): 1935-43.

Lau, Nelson C., Lim, L.P., Weinstein, E.G., and Bartel, D.P.. "An abundant class of tiny RNAs with probable regulatory roles in Caenorhabditis elegans." Science 294. 5543 (2001): 858-62.